Virginia Senate panel defeats final bill to repeal vehicle emissions standard

A Virginia Senate committee on Tuesday killed legislation, backed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R), that would reverse the state’s participation in California’s vehicle emissions standards.

The measure, House Bill 1378, was voted down 8-7 along party lines in the Agriculture, Conservation and Natural Resources Committee. It would have repealed a 2021 law, signed by Youngkin’s predecessor, Gov. Ralph Northam (D), adopting the more stringent California car standards for model year 2025 and beyond.

The Democratic-majority chamber has defeated seven earlier bills undoing the clean car standard. Democrats in the legislature have also defeated bills that would withdraw the state from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a multistate carbon-trading exchange, and killed the nomination of Trump-era Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler for Youngkin’s secretary of natural resources.

“While Governor Youngkin and his allies are busy attacking climate action and driving clean transportation jobs away to other states, Senate Democrats are standing up for our clean air, working to cut harmful tailpipe emissions, and bringing in-demand electric vehicles and economic investment to the Commonwealth,” Michael Town, executive director of the Virginia League of Conservation Voters, said in a statement.

“We are grateful that our champions in the Senate defeated these shortsighted attacks – efforts that will help us meet our climate goals while ensuring that Virginia continues to be seen as a leader in tackling harmful pollution,” Town added.

Youngkin has long vowed to undo the car standards, arguing they allow another state to set policy. “We cannot afford to be California. I’ve already said we are going to unhook ourselves from their 100% electric vehicle mandate,” Youngkin said in 2022.

California is set to require all new vehicle sales to be electric past 2035, but that would not affect existing cars or used vehicle sales.

“As the governor has stated, it defies commonsense that Democrats in Virginia have continued to outsource decision-making on energy policy. California’s requirements for their citizens should not be a one size fits all solution for Virginia,” Youngkin spokesperson Macaulay Porter said in a statement to The Hill. “Their actions have allowed Virginia to be hostage to the extreme policies of unelected bureaucrats in California. We have seen the results of the poor energy planning in California, and we will work to ensure that is not the energy future for Virginia.”

Virginia is one of several states to adopt the California emissions standards. Others include Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico New York, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. California has long been granted a waiver to impose stricter emissions standards than the federal government. The Trump administration attempted to rescind the waiver, but current EPA Administrator Michael Regan undid the efforts.

— Updated at 5:55 p.m.